Science Communication and Citizen Science: Strategies for the Ordinary Citizen

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21814/rlec.3993

Keywords:

scientific diffusion, citizen science, scientific literacy

Abstract

Citizen science (CS) is a paradigm shift in communicating scientific findings to society. CS aims to produce knowledge with society and democratize it through participatory approaches between researchers and citizens. International research entities have been developing strategies for communicating about scientific knowledge and getting closer to the citizen. This study aims to identify the strategies for communicating science to ordinary citizens used by international research entities practicing CS. This exploratory and descriptive study used documentary analysis on the websites of 23 internationally recognized scientific entities with relevant work mostly focused on the health area. The text corpus was organized and submitted to the thematic content analysis technique. The results reveal several strategies for communicating science to citizens, such as the review of information materials by citizens prior to their dissemination; courses and training of citizens on issues related to science and science communication; lectures and presentations in schools or informal settings (e.g., cafés, stores, theater plays, stand-up events); and digital information materials with simplified and user-friendly scientific content. Scientific entities tend to promote CS through innovative strategies to get closer to and engage with ordinary citizens.

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Author Biographies

Elaine Santana, Unidade de Investigação em Ciências da Saúde Enfermagem, Escola Superior de Enfermagem de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

Elaine Santana is a researcher and post-doctoral fellow at the Health Sciences Research Unit: Nursing at Nursing School of Coimbra. She has a PhD in memory, language, and society from the State University of Southwest Bahia, Brazil. She integrates the strategic axis citizen involvement and society outreach of the Health Sciences Research Unit: Nursing at Nursing School of Coimbra.

Rosa Silva, Centro de Investigação em Tecnologias e Serviços de Saúde, Escola Superior de Enfermagem do Porto, Porto, Portugal/Unidade de Investigação em Ciências da Saúde: Enfermagem, Escola Superior de Enfermagem de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

Rosa Silva is an adjunct professor at the Nursing School of Porto, integrated researcher at Center for Health Technology and Services Research and collaborating researcher and postdoctoral student at the Health Sciences Research Unit: Nursing at the Nursing School of Coimbra. She has a PhD in nursing from the Portuguese Catholic University, specialist in mental health and psychiatric nursing, postgraduate degree in clinical supervision and master’s in nursing; core staff of the Portugal Centre for Evidence-Based Practice: A JBI Centre of Excellence.

Ana Filipa Cardoso, Unidade de Investigação em Ciências da Saúde Enfermagem, Escola Superior de Enfermagem de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

Ana Filipa Cardoso is an adjunct professor at the Nursing School of Coimbra and a researcher at the Health Sciences Research Unit: Nursing. She has a PhD in health sciences — nursing, specialist in rehabilitation nursing, postgraduate degree in clinical communication skills; core staff of the Portugal Centre for Evidence-Based Practice: A JBI Centre of Excellence.

Filipa Ventura, Unidade de Investigação em Ciências da Saúde Enfermagem, Escola Superior de Enfermagem de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

Filipa Ventura is a junior researcher at the Health Sciences Research Unit: Nursing of the Nursing School of Coimbra and a guest lecturer at Nursing School of Coimbra. She has a PhD in health sciences from the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden; specialist in oncological nursing.

Joana Bernardo, Unidade de Investigação em Ciências da Saúde Enfermagem, Escola Superior de Enfermagem de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

Joana Bernardo is a research fellow at the Health Sciences Research Unit: Nursing at the Nursing School of Coimbra. She is a PhD student in nursing at the University of Coimbra; specialist in rehabilitation nursing at Nursing School of Coimbra. She works in the area of Health Sciences with an emphasis on Nursing and adult education and training.

João Apóstolo, Unidade de Investigação em Ciências da Saúde Enfermagem, Escola Superior de Enfermagem de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

João Apóstolo is principal coordinating professor at the Nursing School of Coimbra, scientific coordinator of the Health Sciences Research Unit: Nursing, and director of the Portugal Centre for Evidence-Based Practice: A JBI Centre of Excellence. He has a PhD in nursing sciences, Institute of Biomedical Sciences Abel Salazar of the University of Porto, specialist in mental health and psychiatric nursing, postgraduate degree — specialization in health services administration.

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Published

2022-12-22

How to Cite

Santana, E., Silva, R., Cardoso, A. F. ., Ventura, F., Bernardo, J., & Apóstolo, J. (2022). Science Communication and Citizen Science: Strategies for the Ordinary Citizen. Lusophone Journal of Cultural Studies, 9(2), 43–60. https://doi.org/10.21814/rlec.3993

Issue

Vol. 9 No. 2 (2022): New Domains of the Science-Society Binomial Open Science, Citizen Science and Informal Contexts of Public Engagement

Section

Thematic articles

License

Copyright (c) 2022 Elaine Santana, Rosa Silva, Ana Filipa Cardoso , Filipa Ventura, Joana Bernardo, João Apóstolo

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Authors own the copyright, providing the journal with the right of first publication. The work is licensed under a Creative Commons - Atribuição 4.0 Internacional License.

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